Silence's Warmth
by CrysNaima
Summary: The Consortium. Criminal organization. Mafia types. Run by Psychics.   Dirk and Steele. also run Psychics. Used their abilities for good. The two's paths cross constantly, well this could be the last time their paths cross without harm.


**Hello readers! I am CrysitaNaima author of **_**'Shaman King Manga 286'**_** and **_**'History's Flames'**_**. Although all I have been writing are Shaman King Fanfics I decided to extend my writing categories to a slightly less known series called "Dirk and Steele". Yes there is action. And yes there is romance, to the point where it is definitely SMUT/LEMON. This will be an add-on to the unfinished series using my favorite Dirk and Steele character "Eddie" and two of my made up characters "Kris" and "Ari". I'm measly just hoping that my fanfic will give Marjouri M. Lui the credit and attention her series needs. If not, Oh well, I had fun writing this. :P**

Cold pressed its long chilling feeling throughout Kris's body, making it shiver under its touch. No matter how many times _they _locked her up in the large freezer, her body would never get used to it. She could feel the water molecules within her body slowly freeze, her blood stopping its flood because all the water that made it liquid enough to move was turning to ice under her skin. Her teeth chattered but that was the only sound her lips could make.

Not that her lips had ever been able to speak before…

Before _that_ incident had happened…

She could feel her scars on her firm stomach turn as rough as sandpaper, her skin drying as her body's hydrating substance froze out of her body, numbing her.

Those stupid scars…the "artwork" on her stomach…she didn't want to think of it.

But every time she wanted to cry out or beg or apologize and knew she couldn't she thought of the source for the loss of her voice, the same reason she had those damn curves and squiggles on her stomach.

That's why she wanted to stop feeling. She turned herself into a cold girl, and to make fun of it the people of the Consortium would lock her into a room with the temperature below zero degrees, knowing how the cold affected her.

The Consortium. Criminal organization. Mafia types. Run by people who would be considered freaks in the normal world. Psychics

And they're the very definition of devils. Prying off the weakness of those whom they imprison, stating they're getting 'information' for the greater good. It was a bunch of BS.

They just liked torturing Kris, that's why they did this sort of thing as a punishment, because everyone knows that when water freezes it's no longer water….

Kris felt her body slowly begin to consider the thought of falling into unconsciousness; she thought it must be getting close to the time for the muscle men of the Consortium to drag her out of the room. Sure enough, she soon heard footsteps in the corridor outside her room. This time, however, the door clicked. The lock.

She didn't give much of a reaction, just turned to look behind her, the door opened. For a moment all she saw was white—white reflecting off the glass-like ice and stainless-steel walls inside the room. She heard _them, _didn't see them, and felt them as they grabbed her and dragged her out of the room like an animal. Their movements were quick, precise. Practiced. They did this to her a lot. She already knew where she was being shoved to.

On the way there she heard the familiarity of sound around her. High, ripping shrieks from every other door. In other rooms shouts of protest could be heard, followed by the sounds of bones breaking. And in others was the sound of women begging and men enjoying the sound of it.

She was too used to those sounds…

Another door opened and in one smooth motion they hefted Kris's body onto a steel table, slamming her down with enough force to smash the breath from her lungs. Kris didn't gasp or show any sign that it hurt; the men around her would enjoy it too much. Instead she just sat up and stared blankly at the men with her pale blue eyes, some of them would shift uncomfortably at her gaze, these were the newbies, the older ones were used to her strong gaze and simply kept silent with the desire to smack her.

But they weren't allowed to leave a mark anywhere on her body.

Outside the door she suddenly heard shouts, followed by the sound of a whip against something hard, someone cried out and fell to the ground, cursing under their grunts of agony. Kris recognized the voice that cursed and wasn't surprised when she saw the men in black drag the familiar body into the room.

The first thing she saw was the top of Ari's dark brown hair and the fact that firm tan body was naked minus some black sweatpants and minus all the new wounds that were gushing blood from his back. One of the men kicked him forward and Ari's face shifted up, his brilliant green eyes catching a glimpse of Kris, those green eyes looking at her in question.

Kris knew that when Ari's face relaxed it was because he had dug into her mind to make sure she was okay. That was a mind reader for you.

The men in black grabbed Ari's lean body and threw him onto another lab table, slamming him down harder than they did her. More blood gushed out of his wounds, yet Ari did not cry out either, too much pride.

One of the men in black, Slater, she'd heard other's call him, looked at the two and signaled for the others to leave the room, they didn't hesitate, the newer ones in much more of a hurry to leave. Slater looked at the two once more and opened his voice to speak, his voice low in warning, "Don't try anything funny," Kris smirked and Slater glared at her. She didn't have to be a mind reader like Ari to know that Slater was thinking of how Kris had drained all the hydration out of Slater's male part when he was first placed in charge of her. At the current moment he knew she was thinking of it too, "Especially you, you fucking hydrokinetic. If you weren't off limits I would make every guy here fuck you till you break."

_Well then it's too bad that I'm off limits, you bastard. _Kris thought, knowing only Ari could hear anything she thought of. All she did was keep the smirk on her face and watch Slater as he left the room in rage.

As soon the door shut, Ari turned to Kris, "You getting any warmer?" -She nodded in response; Ari gave a sigh of relief, he along with the others in the Consortium knew what the cold did to her body. Since Kris was a hydrokinetic she could feel as the water molecules in her body would agonizingly shift shape in the cold, it was agonizingly painful for her to feel every movement of the shift, as if the ice particles would stab her from within. Eventually she would lose conscious because of the pain, but sometimes the 'doctors' of the Consortium wouldn't keep her locked in that freezer long enough for her to faint. They really rather see her suffer than to miss out on the pain when she would faint. These people were really a bunch of mother fu-

-"What did you do?" She blinked at suddenly hearing Ari speak up, she looked at him, not really able to process what he had asked her. Ari sigh and repeated, "What did you do to get locked up in the freezer again? They never lock you up for fun, the head boss wouldn't allow it, so you've must've done something."

Kris thought about how she had slapped one of the doctors on the face and had made his toilet water rise up to wet him. She smirked to herself at the memory and then turned to look at Ari, the causes of his new wounds striking up her curiosity. _You?_ She asked.

Ari laid back down on the table and crossed is arms behind his head, "Hack into the computer again, trying to see what was the latest of the Consortium's worries. But I think I got whipped because I kicked a guy in the nuts for looking at you and thinking about you in bed." -Kris wasn't surprised- "I wasn't surprised either. Every male employee knows you're the only female off limits to fuck and yet you're the one they want to fuck the most. It pisses me off. So I kicked him in the nuts hoping to make him inactive."

_You're crazy._

"Well sorry for defending you, miss dehydrate-a-guy's-balls." Kris shrugged in response. _What did you find on the computer?_ Ari closed his eyes as if he was bored, "There's some information on some place called 'Dirk and Steele'. Apparently it's a detective agency, but it's really a place where freaks like us actually try to help normal people with our gifts. It seems to be some kind of rival to this place." Kris took all of this in slowly, nodding occasionally. Ari's face suddenly frowned, his body turned so that his bright eyes could pour themselves into hers, "Kris, they're thinking of transferring us today. They're deciding on America." –_Land of the free and the home of the brave,_ Kris thought- "Exactly." Ari said dryly, "We should take that opportunity to try to get out of here. I know it sounds like a death wish, but you know they won't kill us. They need us to play their stupid game, and the boss-lady wants to win then she can't lose her players."

Kris stayed silent, as if she had a choice. She thought about it, leaving the Consortium, escaping the tests that involved killing the others in the Consortium with abilities, others who were trapped as she was. She had wanted to escape since they made her kill her first person, an old man who was a shape-shifter. He had grown so old that he was becoming too bothersome to do tests on, so they decided to use him to test Kris. While she was there, gathering the old man's water molecules and making it drown his lungs; he had looked at her with a grateful expression and whispered a "thank you" before the water gushed into his brain and lungs. Killing him.

That was the test that made the head-boss-lady impressed with her abilities. Kris was only seven years old. Now she was 17 and her heart was cold, death seemed like nothing now; killing like nothing, even feelings seemed useless. But she could start to feel her childish emotions of escape into her and slowly take her over, but before she could think of saying yes to Gale, the door slammed open and Slater walked in with several others behind him. They grabbed Gale and then her and began dragging them out into the hallway, towards different rooms.

Kris was dragged into a room and shoved into a seat; it was actually quite comfortable so it didn't hurt when she was shoved against it. The door slammed after a few seconds and Kris opened her eyes, only to be met by grey ones staring at her in observation.

Kris blinked and leaned back a bit on the seat, the owner of the grey eyes smirked and Kris could now see him clearly. He was handsome, which was just her luck. His face was paler than his hands, but just as sinewy and spare. Light green eyes glinted with sharp intelligence, and his neatly trimmed dark red hair appeared skimmed with golden threads under the overhead lights. He was tall, with broad shoulders straining against a forest-green cashmere sweater that hugged the lean muscles of his chest. A silver chain glinted around his neck, disappearing beneath his clothing. The man smiled softly, after he realized that she was giving him a once over he raised a brow and his smile turned to another smirk. "Am I catching your eye, Miss?" he asked.

Kris glared at him and he chuckled, backing away slowly, "Well you sure do catch everyone else's eye, so I've heard. And I can see why, even in blue soffe shorts and a black cami you are rather appealing. I can imagine you're cold though." Without even asking he pulled out a blue trench coat and tossed it to her, "That's all you're allowed to wear when you leave today though." He says without further explanation, "Why don't you put that on and follow me."

As she stood from the chair and placed the coat on, she followed the man to another room; he turned and pointed for her to sit on an orange sofa. She hesitated, yet sat down, staring into his eyes, and all his attractive features faded into a blur. Cautionness rolled through her stomach, into her lungs, into the lurch of her heart. The man's light green eyes flickered and suddenly turned reluctantly cold.

"I'm aware that you are not able to speak, so I'll ask no questions, I'll just tell you what I'm allowed to."

Kris began to pop her knuckles, an act so unlady-like that it disgusted most people; it also showed people that just because she looked prim and proper didn't mean she was. Cold amusement flickered through the man's eyes.

Then he spoke, "My name is Robert, I am going to be your driver, our destination for the first stop is China, from there we'll be taking you to North Dakota by plane. Private plane. From there forward you'll no longer be under my care. Your buddy in the other room is being given this same information by my associate Ku-Ku, lucky for you though you get the less bitter of the two. Seeing as you're seventeen I can only hope you know how to respect your elders," –Kris gave him the finger- "I thought so. Well do you have any questions?" he added with a tone of mockery.

Kris made him piss in his pants.

…

It wasn't long after her little chat with Robert that Kris found herself being pushed and literally shoved by guards towards a large car. A Mercedes-Benz S600 Pullman Guard. A rather _really _expensive car. _Definitely paid by none other than the workers of this mad-scientist lad, _Kris guessed as she looked on. There were about three other cars in front of the Mercedes, all black H2 Hummers, three in front and three behind it, the drivers already at the steering wheels, cars on and everything.

_Must be thinking we'll try to escape_, Kris thought, not being able to come with a better explanation for the muscle men that surrounded her ways of possible escape.

Beside the hummer she saw Robert leaning against the passenger door, his light green eyes watching her every moment, from the rise of her chest as she took a breath to the twitching of her fingers from the cold. It felt as dirty as the way the guards in the labs would look at her. Robert blinked and looked away from her; instead he reached out and opened the door to the backseat.

_As if he actually had some manners_, Kris added. She saw Robert's brow furrow together in sudden irritation. Kris wondered if he remembered the piss-in-his-pants incident. From the slam of the car door she guessed that was a yes. Guys don't just slam the door to a new hummer for no reason.

The other backseat car door opened and Kris saw Ari seat in the seat beside her. He looked at her and relaxed his shoulders, his muscles becoming less tense, "Hey," he said casually, "nice coat. Makes your eyes stand out like crazy though."

Kris shrugged, _It was a gift_, she added casually, her eyes darting to Robert who took his position in the passenger's seat, an Asian chick taking the driver's seat and starting the engine.

_Ku-Ku_, she guessed. The Asian chick's name made her sound exactly that. _Cuckoo. BS crazy_.

She heard Robert chuckle softly to himself. _Well he might as well be just as crazy_. She looked at Ari, who was staring intently at the back of Robert's head. Robert stared back through the passenger mirror, matching Ari's gaze.

"Where'd they hire you two from?" she heard Ari ask, not hiding the bitterness in his tone. His brilliant green eyes shining brightly. Kris had always found the eyes the most fascinating part of any person, she did not think of them as the doorway not to the soul, but to the secrets that lay inside the mind. That was what fascinated her about Ari when she first met him ten years ago, whenever he would purposely read one's mind his eyes would glow, making him easy to read in that area. "You two are not Consortium people."

Kris turned to gaze at the Asian chick through the rearview mirror. Ku-Ku stared back, watching her, her eyes wary and her mouth set in a hard line. Then her eyes flickered back to the road. Kris did not realize that they had already been several minutes on the move.

Robert's gaze flickered to Kris, who merely blinked, not letting her face show anything other than total boredom. Though she was observing him, feeling the water molecules beneath his skin, getting to know what his blood would tell her. It told her nothing other than old age, _very old age._ "We are not one of those people working in the Consortium, no," Robert's voice broke in suddenly, bringing Kris out of her trance, "But I can assure you your people paid well for us to secure the both of you. So I will do my job to my fullest."

"Unless something greater than your love of money kicks in." Ari spoke up, "Say you're in the very unusual position of caring more about the _why_ than the money? Therefore I cannot make sure you'll keep Kris safe, old man."

Robert gave him a dirty look. It was the closest thing to a normal expression Kris had seen on his face thus far. "Listen kid, I like privacy so remove your ability from being practiced on my mind. I can only assure you that Richard Dirk found me and paid me and my associate well. So I'm doing my job." He turned around and gave her a once over, before resting his eyes on hers, "You're multiracial, aren't you? Tell me, Kris, how many languages do you know?"

_Screw you._

"She knows three. Spanish, Japanese, and English," Ari interrupted, not voicing her thoughts as they came, "What's it to you?"

Robert was about to answer him, she knew it, but his gaze became lock on something outside of Kris's window. His eyes, being shined upon by the sun, shone bright and pale and cold, narrowing as his voice grew low, "We're being followed."

Kris turned to look outside her window, on the lane beside them, several feet back, was a BMW X5, another expensive car. And it was gaining speed. Kris was able to catch sight of the two in the front. A man in the driver's seat, a woman in the passenger's seat with a patch over one eye, there was also movement from a third person in the back, a skinny hand passing something large and black to the woman up front.

"You've got a good eye, Robert." She heard Ari say as he peered over her shoulder. She heard Robert hiss a "fuck" before he turned and grabbed the radio on the car. Kris did not turn in her seat to hear what Robert shouted into the radio, her eyes were glued to the man who was driving the BMW, his eyes locked on hers, he smiled, and she saw his lips move slowly to form two words–

_Take cover._

…

Kris had never been one to question advice. She always followed it without thinking. So when the man in the BMW said "Take cover", she unbuckled her seat belt and threw herself down between the seats and yanked her hands up over the back of her head.

She heard the explosion before she felt it. The blast wave hit, started from the last car on the line and made it to the Mercedes. The car's tires left the ground. It learned how to fly as if Tinker Bell had sprinkled her pixie dust on it and pushed it in mid-air. She heard Robert's endless use of the F-word as the car spun and Ku-Ku's blood-curtailing scream. Though the scream was hers, it was amplified in Kris's head. A burning pain seared a path of unbearable fire through the centre of her body as the car came crashing down, the doors to the backseat flying away and crashing on to other sides of the street. Due to previously taking off her seatbelt, momentum made Kris's body fly out of the car and slam onto a snow covered sidewalk.

People began yelling and crying out but it was all in the background. The only thing she could really concentrate on was the pain, and not the pain of slamming down to solid concrete, but of the way her inside molecules were shifting due to the cold. Her physical pain was nothing compared to that. She still had on the trench coat Robert had given her, but her legs were still exposed and snow was going inside the coat, reminding her she only had on a tank-top and soffes under it.

She had to get somewhere warm.

No matter how much her body protested she forced herself to get up, as she made it halfway there she felt a large hand grip her shoulder and yanked her up, throwing her into a deeper pile of snow. Her body screamed in protest. She turned her head, her eyes trying to focus past the feeling of unconsciousness slowly seeping in; she was able to make out a silhouette, large muscular, but that could be any of the muscle men guards working for the Consortium. She tried to sit up, her vision slowly clearing, saw a familiar face staring down at her with an expression so much colder than the weather outside, blood trickled down from the top of his head, and his grey eyes stared at her as if she were someone's intestines lying on the ground in plain sight. "These people friends of yours, girl?" Slater hissed in accusation.

He would think it was her fault.

Kris tried not to groan as she stood, her legs being ridiculously exposed to the breeze that made the weather drop a few more degrees. She finally managed to keep her balance and pressed a hand to her head, the other hand gave him the finger. Slater was pissed enough to come at her, and had enough strength to dodged to one side, moving under his arm, then kicking his knee out from in back, making him sag. She turned her body and brought her right hand to his chest, her palm connecting with the water inside his body. She thought one thing, _Move_ and could feel as the H2O inside Slater became excited and all simultaneously shifted in one swift direction, shoving him back so hard he went flying, his heavy muscled body airborne for about ten seconds before it crashed into a building with a thud. His head connected with the whiteness of the building's wall, red smears painting themselves across the wall as she slid down it like a raindrop.

Kris stared at his body. It didn't move, but he wasn't dead, and Kris did not have enough strength to finish him off. Not in the condition she was in now. Right now she had to find Ari. She turned, saw all seven cars turned over, some in flames getting ready to explode, heard shouts from the muscle men, and heard gun shots among both sides. She spotted the Mercedes and saw Robert and Ku-Ku from behind it, both drenched in blood, both with ridiculously large rifles in their hands firing without mercy to the people in the BMW.

Her body was beginning to tremble violently from the cold, but she knew that Ari had to be tucked behind the car as well, or else Robert would be trying to revive him somehow. The man did not like to lose money, and he would lose plenty if he or Kris would end up dead. So she ran to the car, trying her hardest to ignore the stabbing she felt as she moved. Robert saw her coming and in that small moment he looked at her, Kris saw him get shot, saw him stagger and get shot again, blood spewing out by quarts. He fell back, and Kris wrinkled her nose at seeing the blood, Ku-Ku had no reaction, just kept shooting. The Asian chick didn't even look at Kris as she made her way towards them, just kept shooting, her hello-kitty clips clicking against one another with every fire.

Kris fell to her knees when she finally made it behind the car, she felt two hands catch her on her way down, she looked up, saw Ari looking down at her in rage. "What the hell, Kris?" he shouted at her, causing her to blink, "You should've ran!"

She glared at him with her pale blue eyes, and whisked her hand across his cheek, the echo of the slap miraculously amplifying over the gunshots. Kris noticed Ku-Ku glanced at the two once before continuing to shoot. Ari blinked at her and opened his mouth to speak when they heard Ku-Ku scream. Both of them jerked and saw a large leopard, watching them with unnatural eyes from the top of the car, Ku-Ku was somehow already on the floor, unconscious, it made Kris think of how her body wanted to do the same from the cold. The thought of the slow, agonizing reaction her body had to the change of temperature made her body feel weaker, the trembling of muscles and the numbness of skin were stages her body was feeling as inner ice was scratching itself against her bones. The leopard stared at her with its one eye, then looked back as the man she saw in the BMW came up behind it.

He looked at Kris and growled, "Shit. We have to get you out of here." He moved toward them when a gunshot barely missed the side of his body by a foot, he jerked back and turned towards the leopard, "Serena," he called. The leopard padded past them, Kris noticing a slight limp in her gait—indicating a gunshot wound. She stopped just beyond the car and looked over her shoulder back at them once before jumping over to bring out the glory of her claws and teeth on the musclemen. Kris heard the sounds of screaming and gunshots, along with the sounds of bone cracking and cloth ripping.

All those sounds were slowly fading as her eyes were beginning to close. She did however manage to hear Ari's sudden shout of protest at something that the man was thinking.

"You two have to split up," the man said, insisting, "It's the only way to divert those guys."

"I'm not gonna fucking leave her. She's going to faint any minute!"

The man turned to Kris and leaned in closer, "Can you hear me?" –_Loud and clear_- "Good." He said, shocking Kris to the point that she became more awake, "Listen to me," he said smoothly, "I'm going to give you some heat that'll also cause a distraction so we can get your friend out of here. But I need you to muster up your strength and run somewhere else. I'm telling you to run because you can actually defend yourself with your gift. Mind reading doesn't protect anyone."

Kris understood and nodded, _What's the distraction?_

She immediately heard Ari's screams of protest. The man looked at her and pulled out a lighter, instantly lighting it, "I'm gonna blow up this Mercedes. While in the process of the flames making it to the gasoline tank, I'm gonna take your friend and haul him to my car where we'll take him to our headquarters for safety. When this thing blows up, it'll generate enough heat to warm you up for about a mile. Find somewhere safe and warm, you hear me?"

Her problem was speaking not hearing. So, yes, she had heard. But for once she wanted to know what the hell would be the best thing to do. She looked at Ari, who stared back at her, those large green eyes screaming "NO!" at her. As if the separation would kill him. Kris knew it wouldn't. She had grown up with Ari, from the very beginning, when she was kidnapped from she had been thrown into a dog crate and surprisingly enough Ari's crater and her crate were stacked next to each other in the lab of experimental horror, otherwise known as the Consortium. Since then they had always been together, like inseparable siblings. But he had survived nine years in the Consortium alone before ever meeting her, and could do fine on his own. She knew it. And she could survive just as well without him too.

At least, when she was warm she could. In the cold she felt just as vulnerable as she did now. She tried concentrating on something other than the movement of her water molecules. Tried to focus on her situation, on staying conscious, on getting warm. Ari was saying something, but it was just a mumble due to Kris's lack of concentration; She couldn't understand him. He wasn't being loud enough. Everything else inside her body was too loud.

Ari jerked forward, his eyes locked dead on hers, worried "Kris," he said, grabbing her attention. Making her find her answer to the huge problem they were in.

She was turning to face the BMW driver when something in her blood jumped. She felt blood suddenly thumping through a heart that had previously not been beating. Her gaze flickered to Robert. From where she saw him bullet holes riddled his body, looked like carrion—raw meat, blood everywhere on him and around. She used her ability to see if his inner body liquids were being pumped by a pulse. She completely froze. His pulse was starting over, slow, but it was coming back.

_There is no freaking way._

She heard a squelching sound, meaty. A flicker in her vision, and she looked past Ari as one of Robert's entry wounds trembled, the edges around the hole rippling like a grotesque mouth. She saw metal, the glimmer of soft, round, edges. The bullet popped out of Robert's body, rolling down his stomach onto the snow. The wound sealed over, the skin knitting together before her eyes. A bloody hole—and then, none at all. Smooth flesh. Ari turned to look as well, his eyes growing wide, "Holy shit."

Robert was literally sweating bullets. And in the moments the third bullet flew out, Robert's eyes snapped opened, wild, savaged, his hand immediately reaching for his gun as he jackknifed to his feet. The gun was aimed at the BMW guy all in the second it took Kris to blink, "Sorry to disappoint," he spoke smugly, light green eyes narrowing to aim at the BMW driver's head, "But I have to deliver these two. And you're in my way."

–His fingers moved to pull the trigger, but instead of the BMW driver's head exploding, it was half Robert's head that exploded from a bullet.

Any other girl would've screamed or cried out, but Kris just widened her eyes and stared at Robert, her blank face showing no expression as her eyes stared at the blue and red that gushed out of his head, his brain could be seen. It was like watching Kennedy's assassination in person. Ari made a gagging sound beside her.

"Fred," a voice spoke out. Kris looked up, saw an ordinary woman with brown hair holding a gun that was still aimed at Robert's head, the woman was staring at the BMW driver, her expression solemn. "Fred, we don't have much time left. Serena can't hold those armed men back forever and if we don't leave before the redhead revives himself again and the Chinese girl regains conscious then all of us will be going to North Dakota to be tested on."

The BMW driver, Fred, turned his eyes on Kris, "Miss," he said, now practically begging, "Please."

She turned to the 19 year old beside her, clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering against the ache of the cold. _Ari…_ she began. "No." He snapped at her, eyes glowing, "When hell freezes over, Kris." She heard Fred behind her reminding her that they were running out of time. As if she could forget, The area around her was being strafed with freaking bullets. She had no choice and hardly any strength left. She looked at him and felt her own eyes flash, and before Ari could read what she was doing, she slammed her hand on his chest, ramming power into his lungs. Ari tried to fight back, tried to shove her hand off his chest, but Fred had read Kris's thoughts and now had both of Ari's arms pinned back behind the boy's back. A perfect arm hold. Kris didn't waste any time, she dug her mental powers into Ari's body, commanding all 70% of the water in his body to enter into his lungs, preventing his absorption of oxygen. Ari gasped once, failing to get in any air, his eyes rolling to the back of his head before they closed, his body finally going limp in Fred's arms. All hundred and eighty pounds of muscle.

The women beside Fred gasped, staring at Kris with huge brown eyes, disbelief crossing through them "Crap. Did you just-"

"-No." Fred answered, "He's gone unconscious due to his body being in a near-drowning state. We'll just need to give him CPR in the car." His eyes flickered to Kris, "Am I right?" he asked her. Kris gave a dull nod. She was suddenly glad that Fred was also a mind reader, not so many misunderstandings would occur that way.

Like how there was no misunderstanding that Kris was at her limit. Her body shivering so violently that her trench coat fell from her shoulders. The cold air that hit her neck racked her with another shudder and she nearly felt her body land face flat on the snow. Her muscles were beginning to cramp and she put her fingers over her face, shoulders hunched, shaking.

The woman beside Fred raised her gun, she looked at Fred, "You carry him, I shoot?" she asked as if it was common question between the two.

Fred nodded and turned to Kris, he took out his lighter, and lit it before chunking it at the Mercedes's open gas lid. He gave Kris one look before he started running and mouthed two words before he disappeared.

Good luck.

That was when the Mercedes exploded.

The car didn't just give a measly pop—it exploded into a raging fireball, the vehicle rocking with the force of the blow. The air zinged and Kris felt her eardrums practically rupture from the force of the blast. There was a horrible buzzing, crackling sound, and every bit of the Mercedes flew in flames. Instantly her body was covered by dust, melting snow, and a whole lot of debris. She got knocked about four feet, her body curling into a ball, her body collapsed on hard cement, knocking her breath out of her.

But the heat of the explosion felt like gallons of water after walking days through a desert. She pushed herself up off the cement as heat flew through her veins, the ice inside her melting sweetly. She sighed in relief and turned around seconds later to look at the mess. The BMW was gone, tire track marks showing its way out thanks to the snow. The musclemen from the Consortium had been thrown flat against the ground from the explosion; those who were alive were covering their heads as burning steel rained down upon them. Some of them got up and saw Kris in the distance.

She knew better than to hang around. She turned her body and ran, leaving behind the gunmen who struggled to their feet.

Already, police cars and fire trucks were screeching to a halt, sirens blaring, lights going berserk. The muscle men that had survived the explosion and the gun war were shouting at her. Several bullets slammed into the ground beside her. A near miss every time, but she kept moving, finally finding her feet and cutting sideways in a zigzag pattern. She looked back over her shoulder just once; the flamed were behind her, engulfing the snow in movement far more graceful than she imagined was possible.

Since the moment she discovered her weakness of the cold, she had found fire so favorable in the way it made her feel safe and warm. Made her feel like she was home. And it energized her, calmed her to a point that made her almost out of character. Though it was only moments like these that see would wish for an eternal flame at her side. As she ran the cool breeze that would pass her tensed her body, and she slowly felt the heat from the explosion leave her. It felt like her life line was slowly slipping from her grasp. She felt her body slow done in its run as she felt her bones begin to freeze over.

Fred had said the heat of the explosion should have given her enough warmth to last her a mile. That meant on an average person it would last about 5 minutes, but on someone who has had lab tests and physical training from hell it meant that a mile would take her 2 minutes. Two minutes to get as far away as possible, two minutes before the agonizing strife of her body would take her over and engulf her in a subconscious darkness.

Two minutes was not enough. It would've been easier, less painful, to just give up.

But that would be stupid.

_Run! Come on, run Kris! You are not this weak!_ She kept telling herself after three minutes passed by. She began gulfing deep lungfuls of air. Her brain now on hyper-drive. She had to stop thinking of the cold, start thinking of escape. Nothing else was supposed to matter. Nothing else was supposed to be on her mind. But she was _fucking cold_! Her bare feet were touching the damn snow head-on and her whole body was exposed to the cold minus the little areas of skin that were covered by her cami and soffe shorts. Then she felt her insides jolt, her inner liquids starting to go solid.

She was sure she ran one and a half before she collapsed into the snow, her lower body feeling as if it fell into a cell of sharp metal stakes as she fell to her knees.

She felt her knees go numb and she knew instantly that this was where she was going to go into darkness. Without being able to move her feet she wasn't going to be able to move to anywhere that was warm, she was just going to fall unconscious in arms of the cold. She could no longer hold her body up, it jerked down to the ground, her face getting a mouthful of snow. It didn't melt in her mouth, telling her that her body temperature dropped dramatically.

_This is it kid. You're going to die. All those years you suffered, without your mother, among that painter, among the Consortium, it was all just so you could die at fucking 17. Way to go. And you could never even tell Slater that you wanted to cut his balls off and feed them to a shark, not just dehydrate them. _She felt her thoughts drifting, coming in one after another, memories, nightmares, and desires to kill certain people. She was so into her thoughts that she didn't hear a car park right beside her, she didn't hear the door to a car open and shut. But she did hear a shocked gasp and someone shout in a language she knew was not English, Spanish, nor Japanese.

"Oh mon Dieu!" a man shouted, in French she guessed though she wondered why someone would speak French in China. She heard the man's feet dig into the snow as he ran to her, shouting a name while he was in shock, "Eddie! Eddie! Help me here!" he continued to call that name until Kris heard another door open and close, "Pick her up and drag her to my restaurant. Oh so much blood! Give me your phone, I'm calling Dela!"

She heard the Frenchman fumble with something that was jingling, keys she guessed, while he dialed numbers. It was at that moment that she felt something warm touch the back of her neck, a hand, a _really _warm hand that made all the muscles and bones on her neck relax just by the touch, her other parts of her body becoming jealous.

"She's still breathing," a new voice said, a sweet male voice, so close that the breath of the owner was basically breathing down her neck, she felt the heat of his body roll off of him and find its way inside of her. Two large arms found themselves around her body, picking her up extremely gentle, as if she were a fragile glass of water. He held her in his arms and stood up, Kris could only notice that her body found him warm—warmer than any human had a right to be. Gah, it felt so good that she wanted to just push herself against him and suck in all of his warmth. "Mr. Pierre," she heard him speak again, his body shifting directions, "Sir, I don't mean to rush you but-"

"-Oui! Forgive me, Eddie!" –A door clicked- "Here! Hurry, enter, enter!" She felt the man's, Eddie's, body rush, moving quickly. In seconds she found herself on something soft, Eddie's heat suddenly leaving her. Heard the Frenchman's, Pierre's, voice on the other side of the room. Heard footsteps walking in, heard Eddie's voice.

"I hope you don't mind I turned on the heat, Mr. Pierre, but she was basically frozen so-"

"-Oui, oui. Perfectly alright." He said something incomprehensible in French then switched back to English, "Dela says she'll be here as soon as she can. Eddie, you go tend to the girl. I have to go and start getting ready for my cooks to come in. I'll come and check on you guys as soon as I can." His footsteps were heard as he walked out, followed by a door closing.

The room seemed silent except for the sound of Kris's bones and muscles soothing themselves but not fast enough. Darkness was closing in on her, yet she found herself struggling to stay awake. It was when she felt the sofa she was on creak right beside her and felt a large hand begin to push away strands of hair off her face, the spots where the hand touched radiated enough heat and she found her hand moving to meet the hand that touched her, she felt the owner of the hand stiffen and the warmth from his hand was enough to give her the strength to open her eyes.

And find that she could do nothing but stare into a pair of the warmest brown eyes she had ever seen in her entire life.

**I accept reviews and constructive critism! I hope you guys enjoyed chapter one of my lovely fanfic. If you wish to read the Dirk and Steele series to understand this story more go ahead! If not well it'll all be explained in my story! :]**

**ONCE AGAIN **_**REVIEW!**_


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